Stay Out of the Attic
by whereverwithyou
Summary: I've been marathoning Goosebumps on Netflix this month, and as a side effect, had the crazy idea to write a Goosebumps-style short story about the Halliwell sisters as kids. 11 year-old Piper is afraid there might be something in the attic. Her Grams assures her there's nothing to be afraid of, but for some reason, Piper's not so sure she trusts her either...
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is just a short little fun exercise I came up with for Halloween. I tried to mimic the writing style of the Goosebumps books a little, but I'm not totally sure if I succeeded. Anyway, I hope everyone enjoys!

Stay Out of the Attic

Chapter One

A lot of my friends think living in an old house is cool. I guess it kind of is. It has a lot of pretty details other people's houses don't, and there are old things everywhere inside. But it can be annoying, too (almost as annoying as living with two sisters!) The doors stick, and things always need repairs. We can't even get into our own attic! There are a lot of creaking noises too. Grams says it's just the house settling, but a lot of my friends don't like to sleep over here because they think it's haunted. I always thought they were stupid for thinking that. Now, I'm not so sure.

One day, my little sister Phoebe and I were in our older sister Prue's room. Phoebe had convinced me to try on Prue's makeup with her. I usually don't do things like this, but Phoebe's always good at getting me to cause trouble! Okay, I guess I was a little curious about how it would look, too. And a little jealous that Prue had been wearing makeup and wasn't showing me how to use it or anything. I guess she thinks her little sisters are lame now that she's a _teenager_. I knew it would be bad news if she found out, because she'd tell on us right away. Prue's always like that. She thinks she has to be our mom, because our real mom died. But we have Grams! I wish she realized that more.

"Did you hear something?" I asked Phoebe as she rubbed Prue's eyeshadow on with her fingers.

"Stop being a scaredy cat, Piper," she answered, handing me a lipstick. I was putting it on when Prue came in the room.

Phoebe and I didn't know what to say, because she was going to yell at us no matter what. So we just sat there.

"You guys are SO dead!" Prue said finally. "Grams!"

"Prue, we're sorry..." I began, but Phoebe elbowed me. She hates that I always apologize for everything, even though if I didn't, she never would.

"I can't believe you guys. I spent my whole month's allowance on this!" Prue continued, grabbing things out of our hands. "You used up so much of it, and look, you smushed my lipstick!"

"We were just having fun, Prue," Phoebe said. "You should try it sometime."

Prue scowled at her. "GRAMS!" she shouted again and ran out into the hallway. Phoebe and I followed her. She stopped when she found Grams, coming down the set of stairs that lead to our attic.

"Grams, look what they did!" Prue said, pointing at us.

Grams burst into laughter when she looked. "You two look like circus clowns!"

"That's not the point, Grams," Prue interrupted. "They went into my room without permission, they messed up all my stuff... look at my lipstick!"

"Grams, were you up in the attic?" I asked, trying anything I could think of to change the subject.

"Of course not, Piper," Grams answered me. "I was just changing the lightbulb at the top of the stairs. Now, you girls know you're supposed to ask your sister's permission before you play with her things."

"But she'd never give it to us!" Phoebe whined.

"Yeah, because of what you do with it!" Prue reminded.

"Girls, girls, enough," Grams interrupted them. "Phoebe, it's Prue's choice if she wants to share her makeup with you or not. Maybe if you ask nicely next time and have her show you how to use it first, she'll let you."

Phoebe shook her head angrily. I was afraid she was going to start complaining again.

"And _if_ not," Grams continued, noticing the look on her face, "I can show you how to use mine sometime. Okay?"

Phoebe and I nodded. Prue looked angry that we hadn't gotten a bigger punishment, but she didn't say anything.

"Now, go wash that stuff off of your faces before it gets stuck on there," Grams said with a smile. "But use the old towels!"

Phoebe and I ran off to the bathroom, glad to be getting away with just a lecture.

"I wouldn't wanna use Grams's makeup anyway," Phoebe said as she turned the sink on. "It's all old lady stuff."

I went over to the closet and pulled the old towels off the bottom shelf. "Do you think Grams was really changing a lightbulb?" I asked.

"Yeah, why?" Phoebe said. She'd started scrubbing her face, and the makeup running down it made it look like she was melting.

"She wasn't holding anything," I answered. "Shouldn't she have the old lightbulb? Or the box or something?"

"I dunno, maybe," Phoebe said as she stuck her head under the water.

A/N: I know Prue comes off as a little mean in this chapter, but really, what teenager wouldn't react that way to seeing her little sisters messing up her things like that? I don't hate Prue, but obviously she has to be written as a bit prickly in this story, given her age. I'm planning on posting a new chapter each day (it's a pretty short story), so stay tuned!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, guys! I haven't written anything Charmed-related since some embarrassing stories when I was in high school, so I hope I can write this one a little better for everyone, lol.

Chapter Two

I felt like the sticky makeup was still on my face later that night when I went to bed. I'd never taken makeup off before, so I'd probably missed some of it. Or maybe my face was just feeling weird from scrubbing it so much. Either way, it was making it really hard for me to fall asleep, and Phoebe snoring next to me didn't help much.

As I lay there staring up at the ceiling, I suddenly heard a noise. It started off like the normal creaking that my house makes sometimes, but it almost seemed like there was a pattern to it. I soon realized that what it sounded like was footsteps. But that couldn't be right - if someone was walking around, I would hear it out in the hallway, not _above_ me. My heart began to beat faster as I listened. If someone was walking around above me, that would mean they were in the attic, and the attic was sealed off. I had to be hearing things, right? But my mind kept coming up with new ways to scare me. I started to wonder if someone could have climbed into the attic from a window.

I rolled over onto my side, trying to block out the thoughts. _It's just the house settling_, I reminded myself. I always felt better when Grams told me that. As I tried to relax, however, another sound came from above me. This time it was a loud _thud._ I sat straight up in bed and pulled the covers off me. There was no way the house settling could sound like this!

I jumped out of bed, opened my door, and ran as fast as I could down the hall do Grams's room. When I opened it, though, I wasn't comforted. Instead, I felt about a million times worse.

Grams wasn't there. I tried not to panic, but my first thought was that whatever was up in the attic had taken Grams with it. I ran back into my room and jumped on top of Phoebe's bed.

"Five more minutes, Grams," she groaned as I shook her.

"No, Phoebe, wake up!" I said. "Grams is gone!"

"What?" Phoebe asked. She sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"I heard a bunch of weird noises coming from the attic, so I went to get Grams. But she's not in her room!"

"You know it's just the house settling," Phoebe grumbled. "Are you really that scared of some creaking noises?"

"Well you're scared of the _Woogeyman!_" I reminded her.

Phoebe was about to hit me with her pillow when we heard another loud sound from above us. This time it was even stranger than the thud - it was a whooshing noise, almost like there was a storm going on up there somehow.

"Does THAT sound like the house settling?" I asked.

Phoebe's eyes were now wide open as she lowered her gaze to look at me. "Let's get Prue," she suggested. Together we jumped out of bed again and ran out into the hall.

I tried to open the door to Prue's room, but the handle wouldn't budge. She'd probably locked it to avoid us taking her stuff again. Before I could come up with any other ideas, Phoebe started banging on the door.

"Prue, open up!" she shouted.

"Shhh, it might hear you!" I said nervously.

"What might?" Phoebe asked me.

"Whatever's in the attic!" I reminded her.

"Go away!" Prue shouted at us through the door. "You guys should be asleep."

"Prue, it's about Grams," I said as quietly as I could while still making sure she could hear me.

I heard her covers rustling, followed by a clicking in the lock on her door. "What's wrong?" she said to us through-half awake eyes when she opened the door.

"She's not in her room," I began, "and..."

"Girls?"

We turned to see Grams standing in the hallway behind us.

"Grams, you're okay!" I said, rushing up to hug her. Since she hadn't been expecting it, I knocked her off balance slightly, and I heard a noise as something fell out of her bathrobe pocket.

I looked down at the floor to see a small glass bottle filled with green liquid lying on the carpet. "What's that?" I asked.

"Perfume," Grams answered as she picked it up. "Now what are you girls doing out of bed at this hour?"

"We heard noises," Phoebe explained, "coming from the attic."

"And when I went to get you, you weren't there," I added.

"Oh, girls, I was just in my bathroom," Grams said.

Phoebe turned to me. "You didn't check the _bathroom_?" she asked, looking annoyed.

I felt my cheeks start to heat up with embarrassment. I tried to remember if I'd looked when I'd run into Grams's room, but I'd been so scared. For some stupid reason, I couldn't remember. "I... the door was open... at least I think it was..."

"Can I go back to sleep now?" Prue asked.

"But what about the attic?" I said, still afraid.

"Oh, Piper," Grams said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "We've talked about this before. It's just your imagination playing tricks on you at night. You don't have to be scared of the sounds an old house makes. Hey, sometimes my joints creak when I move, and I don't scare you, do I?"

I smiled. "No, Grams."

"Everything's alright, sweetheart," Grams said again. "Now, try to get some sleep."

"Okay," I said. Phoebe and I walked back towards our room.

I looked up at the ceiling again and realized that I hadn't heard any noises since Grams had found us in the hallway. Before I closed the door, I glanced back out at her as she walked back to her room. Maybe I had been wrong about there being some kind of monster in the attic, I thought. Maybe it was _her._

A/N: The implication, of course, is that Grams was making a potion in the attic, and that was causing all of the strange noises. Not sure if that was clear enough or not. Chapter Three coming tomorrow!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Reply to Dominus Trinus: Yeah, it was hard to figure out what kinds of sounds I could use to describe what potion-making could sound like through walls/floors. The descriptions could have applied to demon vanquishing easily, but some of those potions were pretty loud, too!

Chapter Three

I was still worried about the attic. Phoebe had started making fun of me for it, even though she was just as scared as me when we'd heard those noises. I guess a few days was all it took for her to forget that. As for me, it was still hard to go to sleep at night, even though I hadn't heard anything since then. As far as I was concerned, either there was something scary up there waiting to come out again, or Grams was lying to us about not being able to open the attic door. I didn't know which was worse.

I was sitting on the couch by the fireplace, looking down at my homework, but not able to concentrate on it at all. Phoebe sat in the chair next to me, eating a snack that Grams had warned her would spoil her dinner. I was still trying to make sense out of the numbers on the page when a knock at the door nearly made me jump out of my skin.

"Afraid of the attic monster again?" Phoebe teased me. I glared at her while Prue got up to answer the door.

"Andy, hi," we heard her say from the hallway.

"Oooh, it's Aaaandy," Phoebe said. She leaned over to me and made kissy faces. I couldn't help but laugh. Since Andy was our neighbor, he'd been friends with us our whole lives, but Phoebe and I were pretty sure that Prue liked him now, even if she always told us she didn't.

"Hey guys," Andy said to us as he leaned his head into the room.

"Hi Andy," Phoebe and I answered together.

"Are you guys done with your homework?" Prue asked.

"I am, but Piper's taking _forever_," Phoebe said.

"Phoebe!" I complained. I was so mad I nearly kicked her.

"Piper, do you want me to help you with anything?" Prue asked me.

"No, I can do it," I answered, upset.

Prue walked over to me. "Then why aren't you doing it, sweetie?" she asked, concerned.

I sighed. "I can't concentrate."

"Are you still thinking about the attic?" Prue asked. I could tell she was getting annoyed with me about it, but she didn't want to upset me the way Phoebe had.

"The attic?" Andy chimed in.

"Piper thinks there's a ghost or something up there," Prue said, brushing off my fear as silly.

"I do not!" I argued, getting embarrassed again. "But I _did_ hear weird noises up there! It could've been Grams..."

"I thought you couldn't get into your attic," Andy interrupted, confused.

"We can't," Prue reminded. She gave me a look which said that I should drop it.

"Unless she _can_ get up there and she's not telling us," I continued. I didn't want everyone to think I was crazy. I wanted to prove them wrong. I just didn't know how.

"Why would she do that?" Prue asked.

"I dunno, maybe she's hiding something up there."

"Our Christmas presents!" Phoebe suggested. I rolled my eyes at her.

"You know," Andy said, "if you really think your Grams is going up there, you could always come up with a way to catch her doing it."

I sat up straight, now interested. "Like what?"

"Maybe some kind of trip wire," Andy suggested. "Something that would make noise when she stepped on it. Or maybe put paint on the stairs so she would track it through the house."

"Wow, Andy," Prue smiled. "Great detective work."

"Great?" Phoebe interrupted. "If we got paint on the carpet, Grams would kill us!"

Prue glared at her, but instead of looking back, Phoebe turned to me and made a kissy face again.

"Finish your homework, you two," Prue ordered as she and Andy left the room.

* * *

><p>After thinking about it for a while, Phoebe and I came up with the perfect way to catch Grams. We found some string lying around, so we tied one end around the doorknob of our room. Then, we made our way up the stairs to the attic. Once we tied the other end to that doorknob, then anyone who opened the attic door would end up slamming our door shut!<p>

As we came to the landing in the middle of the attic steps and turned the corner, however, I froze.

"Piper, come on, Grams'll be home any second!" Phoebe reminded me.

I didn't answer her. Instead, I was staring at the dark, old door. Even though we hadn't heard any noises in days, I was still waiting for that loud _whoosh _sound again, or worse, for the door to fly open and something to come out at us.

"Piper!" Phoebe said. She was three steps above me by now. "Just hand me the string," she said, annoyed.

I reached out a shaking hand and gave it to her. Phoebe walked up the rest of the steps to the door. As she was about to tie the string onto the knob, however, she stopped and instead put her hand on the doorknob.

"What are you doing?" I whispered.

"Might as well try," Phoebe answered. She shook and rattled the handle, and put her weight into the door, but it didn't budge. She shrugged. "Oh well."

"Just tie it on, hurry!" I said, panicked.

As she tightened the knot, I could swear I heard something creaking. Whatever it was, it sounded like it was getting closer, and closer...

"Done!" Phoebe said finally. We ran down the stairs so fast we almost fell.

It was hard to sit with our bedroom door open, because all I wanted to do was shut it and lock it tight. I'd been the only one to hear the creaking noises, and Phoebe was of course telling me again that it was the house settling, but after everything that had happened, I couldn't believe it.

We sat in complete silence as Grams came home and walked up the stairs. At one point Phoebe almost sneezed, and I got so scared until she got it under control. I don't know why we were afraid of our Grams - out of any place in the house, our room was where we were supposed to be. But somehow I feared that she knew what we were up to, and that if she found out, those sounds in the attic would be from _us_ next time. I tried to shake the thoughts out of my head. Did I really think that about my Grams? Even if she was going up there for some reason, she probably wasn't doing anything strange. Probably...

The door to our bedroom flew shut and slammed on its hinges, jolting Phoebe and I from our thoughts. I quickly cut the string so we could open the door again, and we rushed out into the hall and up the attic stairs. Phoebe nearly knocked me off my feet when we got to the top, because I'd stopped dead when I saw Grams standing there.

The three of us stood on the landing in silence for a few seconds. Grams almost didn't have to say anything to us - just from her look alone, we knew we were in big trouble.

"Grams, why are you coming up here?" I asked before she could start yelling at us. I couldn't believe I was standing up to her like that. Usually when I was being punished, my stomach just felt like jelly.

"To find out where the string that was going all through the hallway lead to," Grams answered, untying it from the closed door behind her.

I gulped.

"I don't know why you girls are so obsessed with this attic," she continued as she gathered the string up from the stairs. "You know nothing can get in here."

"But..." I started, but I was feeling a lot less confident all of a sudden.

"Piper, I promise you that everything is okay," Grams said. Her smile faded quickly though. "Now, you two need to stay out of here."

I nodded as she passed us on the stairs and walked away, but her warning had made me feel uneasy all over again.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

"But if she was changing a lightbulb, why didn't she have the old one in her hand?" I protested again as Phoebe and Prue rolled their eyes at me. "And that bottle that fell out of her pocket..."

"She said it was perfume," Prue reminded.

"Since when have you ever seen _green_ perfume?" I asked.

Prue sighed, knowing by now that she wasn't going to get me to change my mind on this. Instead she picked up her pom-poms again, and started waving them in the air for the fiftieth time.

"Are you gonna do that all day?" I asked her.

"Of course I am, cheerleading tryouts are on Monday," she answered.

"Yeah, but it's _Saturday_," Phoebe informed her. "Nobody does work on Saturday."

"Well, I do," Prue continued, spinning around in front of the solarium windows.

Phoebe and I sat in total boredom as we watched her. We certainly weren't crazy enough to do any work on a Saturday, but we didn't really have anything else to do instead, either. We'd already ridden our bikes around the neighborhood, and nothing good was on TV anymore. Grams had promised me that later that day I could help her cook, but she had to come home from the grocery store first.

We sat and listened to the _swish, swish_ of Prue's pom-poms for a few minutes, the sound almost numbing our brains against doing anything but sitting there. Finally, Phoebe got up and stood behind Prue. As I gave her a confused look, she started copying Prue's moves behind her back. I covered my mouth so I wouldn't laugh. Phoebe started making her dances more exaggerated than Prue's - when Prue lifted her arms, Phoebe would practically punch the air, and when Prue moved from side to side, Phoebe would wiggle her butt back and forth, too. Finally I couldn't keep quiet anymore, and burst out laughing, ruining the whole game.

"Phoebe," Prue complained when she turned around, "Stop copying me!" She waved a pom pom at her.

"Stop copying me!" Phoebe repeated with a grin, grabbing the pom-pom out of her hand and waving it right back in Prue's face.

The two of them kept pretending to hit each other, filling the room with the _swish-swish_ sound. After a few seconds, however, it seemed like there was another noise mixed in. I slowly got up from my seat and walked a little closer to the stairs.

"Shhhh, guys," I whispered. "Do you hear that?" The pom-pom war continued, however. "Guys, seriously!" I tried again, a little louder. "Prue, Phoebe!" They still didn't seem to care. Finally I remembered how Andy had taught me to whistle a few weeks ago. I put two fingers in my mouth and made a sound loud enough to finally get their attention. "Listen!" I said when they quieted down.

Prue gave me an annoyed look. I knew she was about to tell me I was being ridiculous again, when all of sudden a loud _BANG_ came from above us. We all jumped.

"...Is Grams back yet?" I asked, scared.

"No..." Prue answered. She had always been the most fearless of the three of us, but I could swear her voice sounded scared, too.

"Then what's that noise?" Phoebe said, asking the question I was too afraid to. No one answered.

We heard the noise again. This time it was accompanied by something else - almost like the sound effect they use in cartoons when someone gets electrocuted.

"We should go up there," Prue said suddenly.

"No!" I argued. "What if it's a robber?"

"What if the house is falling down?" Phoebe suggested.

Prue seemed unsure. "Um..." she started, her eyes racing between us and the ceiling. "Maybe we should go outside," she said when we heard another _thump_. It was weird seeing my big sister, who was always in control of everything, so nervous.

Quickly we ran to the solarium doors and opened them, rushing out into the yard.

"If we see something coming down the stairs, we run," Prue instructed as she shut the doors behind us. My stomach felt sick.

We stood with our eyes fixed on the inside of our house for what seemed like forever. There had been no noises since we'd run outside, which was starting to make me wonder if I'd overreacted again. At least this time I wouldn't be the only one to. All of a sudden, we heard that zapping sound again, this time louder than normal. And it was followed by something else. Something that Grams could never convince me was the house settling. It sounded like a _scream_. Phoebe and I grabbed onto each other in fear.

"I'm gonna find out what's up there," Prue decided, looking up at the top of the house.

"Prue, you can't go back inside!" Phoebe protested.

"I'm not," Prue answered. I followed her eyes from the high-up attic window, to the branches of the tall tree in our yard. I realized that they were almost the same height.

"Prue..." I said, still scared, but she had already grabbed onto the lowest branch.

"I'm the only one tall enough to climb it," she said, in order to shut us up. She moved up a few more branches. "If I say run, you guys run, okay?"

"...Okay," I said. I felt like I could barely breathe. Phoebe squeezed my hand.

We watched Prue grab onto each branch and plant her feet into various knots as she climbed higher and higher. My heart was beating out of my chest when she got up to our bedroom window. Only a little higher now.

That's when we heard the crack.

"Prue!" I screamed. The branch underneath her splintered, and she screamed as she came sailing down to the ground. It felt like it happened in slow motion, even though it was actually very fast.

"Are you okay?" I asked as Phoebe and I ran up to her. Prue moaned. She rolled over onto her back, cradling her arm against her. My stomach flipped when I noticed how weirdly it was bent.

"Phoebe, don't look," I said, turning her away. Phoebe had never been quite as squeamish as me, but she'd never seen a broken bone, either. "HELP!" I called out. "Grams?"

"She's not here..." Prue groaned, tears running down her cheeks. I gulped as I realized I would have to call 911. That meant going back inside the house.

"What happened?" a voice called out. Phoebe and I looked over to see a man with a tool belt running over to us.

"She fell out of the tree," I explained. The man knelt down next to Prue.

"It's okay," he said. "We're gonna get you to a hospital."

"I'm gonna miss cheerleading..." Prue said faintly. She almost sounded like she was falling asleep.

Just then, Grams came running from the driveway. She dropped her bag of groceries when she saw us.

"What's going on here?" she asked. She held her hand to her mouth in shock as she looked at Prue.

"Her arm's broken," the man explained. He picked Prue up in his arms. "I'll carry her to your car."

Speechless, the three of us ran after him. I paused for a second to look back through the windows of the house, but I didn't see anything. I just hoped nothing would be waiting for us when we got back.

A/N: Prue breaking her arm is an allusion to Thank You For Not Morphing, where she tells Andy about all the things her dad missed when they were growing up. And I'm sure all of you can guess who the man with the tool belt is...


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: This is a little sisterly bonding blurb before the big resolution next chapter. And Dominus Trinus, you're absolutely right about the crystal cage!

Chapter Five

Phoebe and I stood with our heads down in the hallway outside Prue's hospital room. Across from us, Grams had her arms crossed, as silent and still as a statue. That probably meant that we were in such big trouble that she hadn't figured out how to punish us yet. I gulped.

"I _cannot_ believe how irresponsible you girls were!" she bellowed finally.

"It was Prue's idea to climb the tree," Phoebe tried hopelessly.

"I don't care whose idea it was!" Grams shouted in response. "At least one of you should have been responsible enough to realize how dangerous it was! Your sister is lucky she only has a broken arm. She could have died falling out of that old, dead thing! I should've had it ripped out years ago..." Grams muttered to herself. "If Mr. Wyatt hadn't been there to help you..."

"Who's Mr. Wyatt?" I asked.

"He's a handyman I hired to look into the attic," Grams said. "I thought maybe if we could get it opened, you girls would stop worrying about what was up there. Those noises you heard today were probably him working."

"But I heard screaming!" I argued.

"Maybe he hurt himself," Grams suggested. "But your sister hurt herself a _lot_ more because you couldn't leave it alone."

I wondered to myself why Grams wouldn't have just told us that she had a handyman coming over. If we'd known he had been upstairs, we probably wouldn't have gotten so scared. We were just trying to protect ourselves. And for Prue, the "responsible" one, to want to climb a tree, it meant that even she felt like we were in danger. Grams was angry enough at us already though that I didn't bring it up.

"You girls need to stop this _now_, before anyone else hurts themselves," she ordered. "You understand me?"

"Yes, Grams," I said, nodding.

"The three of you are grounded until I say otherwise."

"Aw, really?" Phoebe complained.

"With the danger you put yourselves into, you're lucky that's all you're getting," Grams shot back.

"Can we go see Prue now?" I asked after some silence.

"You may," Grams replied.

Phoebe and I burst through the door to greet our sister, interrupting her from eating hospital Jell-O and watching MTV.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" I said, rushing to her bed and hugging her. I felt Phoebe smush her way onto the bed behind me to join the hug too.

"Well then don't choke me!" Prue complained. We stood up again.

"I'm gonna sign your cast!" Phoebe announced, looking for a marker.

"Sorry you won't get to do cheerleading," I offered as Phoebe began drawing designs on the white plaster.

Prue shrugged. "There's always next semester," she said, even though I could tell she was disappointed.

"Prue!" we heard a voice say from the door. We turned to see Andy standing there. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Prue gave a wide smile, and then blushed when she realized how much she was grinning. "Andy, hi," she said again. It seemed like that was the only thing she could get out when she was around him nowadays. "I'm fine," she reassured him. "Now that it's over with, it was actually pretty cool."

Andy laughed. "I bet. Everyone's gonna be talking about you in school tomorrow." He walked over and looked at Prue's arm. "I see someone beat me at signing your cast first," he commented. Phoebe put on an innocent face and pretended to watch the TV.

Andy took the sharpie Phoebe had left on the bedsheets and began to write on Prue's cast. "I'm really glad you're okay," he admitted.

"Thanks," Prue replied, her wide smile coming back.

"Tell you what, once you get out of here, I'll take you to get the biggest ice cream sundae you can imagine," Andy offered. "You've earned it."

Prue's eyes widened, as if she didn't really believe what was happening. "Sounds great," she finally managed to reply.

Andy smiled. "Then it's a date."

Phoebe and I spun our heads around to look at each other. Phoebe pushed her lips together to make kissy faces again, but when I glared at her, she stopped.

"Alright, I'll see you guys later," Andy said as he walked back towards the door. "Get well soon, Prue."

As soon as the door shut again, Phoebe and I jumped onto Prue's bed.

"Did Andy just ask you OUT?" I asked eagerly.

"I... I'm not sure," Prue said, her cheeks now thoroughly red.

"He _totally_ did," Phoebe said.

Prue laughed. "Okay, he did." She was smiling wider than I'd seen in a long time, and something told me that her disappointment about not making the cheerleading squad had been completely forgotten about.

"You guys..." she started to say, "I'm sorry I've been kinda mean to you lately. And that I didn't believe you about the attic."

"We're sorry you fell out of a tree because of us," Phoebe replied.

Prue laughed. "Well, falling out of that tree just got me a date with Andy," she realized, "so... thanks."

"Oh, in that case, I'll make you fall out of a tree any time!" Phoebe grinned. She made a motion to push Prue off the edge of her hospital bed.

"Phoebe!" Prue protested. "Don't break my other arm!"


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: And now, as an All Hallows Eve treat, the thrilling conclusion!

Chapter Six

"You don't wanna use too much," Prue said as Phoebe moved the lipstick container back and forth across her lips. If it hadn't been the one she'd smushed up already, it wouldn't have survived this very well.

"Why not? This is how Madonna wears it," Phoebe said.

I tried not to laugh at how silly she looked, and instead focused on putting eyeshadow on the way Prue had shown me. Since we were all grounded, we really shouldn't have been doing this at all, but whenever Grams went upstairs, we found ways to get around our punishment.

"Try putting on just a little," Prue instructed, taking the tube from Phoebe, "then go like this." She rubbed her lips together. "And then if you still want to add more, you can." She tried to add some extra color to her lips, but gave up. "This is so hard to do left-handed!" Prue complained, eying her cast.

I was about to ask if she needed any help when we heard footsteps coming down the stairs. "Grams!" I warned. We scrambled to clear off the table before she saw and added more time to our punishment.

Instead of Grams, however, a man in a plaid shirt and jeans came around the corner.

"Oh, hi, Mr. Wyatt," Prue said.

"Hi girls," he replied. "I just wanted to let you know that you don't have to worry about noises in the attic anymore."

"Did you get it open?" Phoebe asked eagerly.

"No, it's sealed up pretty tight," Mr. Wyatt answered. "You'd have to knock out a wall to get into it. But, I did find some critters who were making themselves a nice home in your crawlspace."

"Critters?" Prue asked.

"Yeah, y'know. Raccoons, things like that," Mr. Wyatt explained.

"And they live in the _walls_?" Phoebe asked, grossed out by the idea.

"They did, but not anymore," Mr. Wyatt replied. "Like I told your Grams, everything should be okay now. No more strange noises for you girls to worry about."

After all of that, I almost felt disappointed that an animal was all it was. Also a little embarrassed. "Thank you, Mr. Wyatt," I said. He smiled at me.

"And thanks for helping me too," Prue chimed in. "When I fell out of that tree."

Mr. Wyatt. "I'm just glad everyone was okay," he said. "And now, it looks like my work here is done. Bye, girls."

"Bye, Mr. Wyatt," Phoebe answered as he walked away. Looking at her brightly-painted face reminded me that we were all still wearing our makeup, and I suddenly felt very embarrassed about how we must have just looked.

"Now can we stop worrying?" Prue asked when we were alone again.

"I think so," Phoebe said, taking the makeup back out.

"I meant about the attic," Prue corrected.

"Oh."

"I guess so," I shrugged. "It seems so weird, that all of that was just from an animal."

"Well, the boys at school are animals, and you know how noisy they are," Phoebe joked.

Prue laughed. I laughed along with her, but I was still thinking about the attic in the back of my mind. I guess Grams hadn't been going up there after all. But I still wondered what kinds of things could be hidden in that space...

* * *

><p>Penny Halliwell walked through the upstairs hallway of her family manor, carrying a basket of laundry which she intended to bring downstairs for her granddaughters to fold. Instead, her feet slowed as she walked past the staircase leading up to the attic. She glanced to her left and to her right before putting the basket down and gently climbing up the steps.<p>

She paused in front of the heavy, old door, and held out her hand.

_"Door against all forces sealed  
>Open again, your secrets revealed."<em>

Without a touch, the door clicked open. Penny stepped inside, where a treasure trove of antiques, mementos, and plain old useless junk sat in piles spread throughout the vast room. Despite the clutter, the center of the room was perfectly clear, empty except for a strange circle of crystals and a book on a pedestal.

Penny approached the book and began to flip through it. Behind her, a sudden swirl of white lights appeared out of nowhere, quickly taking the shape of a person. As the lights disappeared, the figure became more solid, revealing that it was the handyman who had just talked to the girls downstairs.

Penny turned around and jumped at the sight of him. "Oh, Leo!" she exclaimed. "You scared me! I thought it was one of those demons trying to get the Book again."

"Sorry, Penny," he apologized.

"The Elders are sure we're not going to have any more problems with them?" she asked. "Because I can only come up with so many protection spells..."

Leo nodded. "I just checked, your theory about all of their power being connected to their leader was right. That vanquishing potion you used should have weakened them so much that they won't be able to attack again for years."

"Oh, good," Penny said. "With all of the activity up here I was starting to worry that the girls were going to find out."

"I don't think you'll have to worry about that anymore," Leo answered. "I told them all the noise was an animal in the crawlspace. But if anything else happens, I can always use memory dust on them."

"I think one of my spells will be more than capable of erasing their memories," Penny bragged. "But still... they're getting persistent."

"Trapping that demon was pretty loud," Leo reminded. "They were just reacting like any normal kids would to noises like that."

"Still, it's a good thing you heard their call when Prue fell out of that tree."

Leo nodded. "I healed her as much as I could without it looking suspicious. She'll be in the cast for a while, but her arm will be good as new after."

"Thank you, Leo," Penny said. "Hopefully things won't get this bad again." She closed the book and ran her fingers over the three-pointed symbol on the cover. "At least not until they're ready to know what they are."

THE END

A/N: And there you have it! I feel kind of bad because the ending is kind of an anticlimax, but I also didn't know how much more material I could get out of the girls just hearing noises. Obviously, them actually finding out what was in the attic wouldn't really work, since they don't know about magic yet. If I ever get any better ideas, however, I'll rewrite this (or maybe other Goosebumps-themed stories... there are so many possibilities!) Anyway, even though it was short and kind of silly, I hope you all enjoyed it!


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